It all began with young Thelonious Sphere Monk, going to the movies in the early 1940’s. There he watched the subterraneously bad flick Second Chorus (1940), starring among others Paulette Goddard and Fred Astaire (faking a composing & dancing/ conducting pianist); and it featured also Artie Shaw & His Orchestra as themselves.

In many movies whose stories weren’t very plausible otherwise, the producers forced at least one popular swing orchestra into the plot somehow; mostly though, without caring for the deeper sense of that very feature.

If you listen closely to one of the tunes – featured in that film irritatingly under two (!) different titles -, you can clearly identify the beginning of Blue Monk.

Every Sunday afternoon you could turn on the radio and listen to John Kirby & His Sextet – a.k.a. “The Biggest little Band in the Land” – and their program “Flow Gently, Sweet Rhythm” (with Maxine Sullivan).

Their theme song (the very important radio-signature) became so popular that a great musician like Artie Shaw simply couldn’t ignore it!

So, that very Pastel Blue found its entry into Mr. Shaw’s own repertoire.

And now, have pleasure to listen to the three pieces, which have at least one thing in common:

Deeply rooted in the Anglo-African-American tradition of the hymns, the spirituals and the swing, influenced by and steeped in all those impressions, Thelonious Monk created a timeless blues theme; a folksong-like melody which always brings great joy to improvise on…